High-intensity discharge lamp assembly and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9805924-B2
Application number	US-201414477471-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 4, 2014
Priority date	Sep 4, 2014
Publication date	Oct 31, 2017
Grant date	Oct 31, 2017

Abstract

A lamp assembly including a housing defining an internal volume and a lamp positioned in the internal volume, the lamp including a first electrode and a second electrode, wherein the first electrode is both thermally and electrically coupled to the housing, and wherein the second electrode is thermally coupled to the housing by way of a thermally conductive, electrically insulative material and a heat transfer element.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A lamp assembly comprising:
a housing defining an internal volume;
a lamp positioned in the internal volume, the lamp comprising:
a cathode thermally and electrically coupled to the housing; and
an anode thermally coupled to and electrically isolated from the housing;

a heat transfer element extending between the anode and the housing in the internal volume and thermally coupling the anode to the housing along a conductive cooling pathway; and
a thermally conductive, electrically insulative material positioned in the conductive cooling pathway and electrically isolating the anode from the housing.

2. The lamp assembly of claim 1 wherein the housing is electrically grounded.

3. The lamp assembly of claim 1 wherein the housing is formed from a metallic material that is both thermally and electrically conductive.

4. The lamp assembly of claim 3 wherein the metallic material is one of aluminum, aluminum alloy, steel, copper and copper alloy.

5. The lamp assembly of claim 1 wherein the lamp comprises one of a gas discharge lamp and a xenon arc lamp.

6. The lamp assembly of claim 1 further comprising a mounting structure connecting the lamp to the housing, wherein the mounting structure thermally and electrically couples the cathode to the housing.

7. The lamp assembly of claim 1 wherein the thermally conductive, electrically insulative material comprises at least one of an epoxy, an adhesive, a curable paste, a non-curable paste, a curable resin, a non-curable resin, a gel, an oil and a non-electrically conductive composite.

8. The lamp assembly of claim 7 wherein the thermally conductive, electrically insulative material comprises a thermal conductivity of at least about 0.5 W/m-K and a resistivity at 20° C. of at least about 1 Ωm.

9. The lamp assembly of claim 1 wherein the heat transfer element comprises one of a heat pipe and a working fluid housed in an elongated housing.

10. The lamp assembly of claim 1 wherein the heat transfer element comprises a hot end portion thermally coupled to the anode and a cold end portion thermally coupled to the housing.

11. The lamp assembly of claim 10 wherein the thermally conductive, electrically insulative material is positioned between the anode and the hot end portion.

12. The lamp assembly of claim 10 wherein the thermally conductive, electrically insulative material is positioned between the cold end portion and the housing.

13. The lamp assembly of claim 1 further comprising a first heat spreader thermally coupled to the anode.

14. The lamp assembly of claim 13 further comprising a second heat spreader, wherein the heat transfer element is connected to the second heat spreader.

15. The lamp assembly of claim 14 wherein the thermally conductive, electrically insulative material is positioned between the first heat spreader and the second heat spreader.

16. A lamp assembly comprising:
a housing defining an internal volume;
a lamp positioned in the internal volume, the lamp comprising:
a first electrode thermally and electrically coupled to the housing; and
a second electrode thermally coupled to and electrically isolated from the housing;

a heat pipe extending between the second electrode and the housing in the internal volume and thermally coupling the second electrode to the housing along a conductive cooling pathway; and
a thermally conductive, electrically insulative material positioned in the conducting cooling pathway and electrically isolating the second electrode from the housing.

17. The lamp assembly of claim 16 wherein the first electrode is a cathode and the second electrode is an anode.

18. The lamp assembly of claim 16 wherein the heat pipe comprises a hot end portion thermally coupled to the second electrode and a cold end portion thermally coupled to the housing.

19. The lamp assembly of claim 18 wherein the thermally conductive, electrically insulative material is positioned between the second electrode and the hot end portion.

20. The lamp assembly of claim 18 wherein the thermally conductive, electrically insulative material is positioned between the cold end portion and the housing.

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Jungwirth Douglas R
• Bouckaert Anton M
• Vlastelica Christina

Classifications

• H01J61/86

  with discharge additionally constricted by close spacing of electrodes, e.g. for optical projection · CPC title

• H01J61/30 Primary

  Vessels; Containers · CPC title

• H01J61/526

  heating or cooling of electrodes · CPC title

• H01J61/523 Primary

  Heating or cooling particular parts of the lamp · CPC title

• H01J61/025

  Associated optical elements · CPC title